The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "grand jury investigation" ...
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Need to Know: Crossing the Line at the Border Parts 1 & 2
Few, if any, pieces published or broadcast in 2012 had as much impact as “Crossing the Line at the Border,” a joint project of the weekly PBS newsmagazine, “Need to Know,” and the Nation Institute that was in the best tradition of American investigative journalism. Within days of its broadcast, 16 members of Congress demanded that the U.S. Justice Department investigate the killing of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas, a 42-year-old Mexican whose death at the hands of U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents was detailed in our report. A few months later, a U.S. attorney in convened a federal grand jury. It is currently considering criminal charges in the case. And months after that, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the incident had prompted it to launch a full-scale review of its use of force. Hernandez Rojas had a fatal heart attack shortly after being subdued by agents, beaten, and shot with a Taser gun at the San Ysidro border crossing on May 28th, 2010. His death was largely ignored until the "Need to Know” team, in partnership with the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute, unearthed never-before-seen eyewitness video of the incident.
Tags: U.S. Justice Department; border; killing; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Taser
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60 Minutes: Armstrong
"This story uncovers new evidence about accusations that have long haunted cyclist Lance Armstrong: that he was using performance enhancing drugs when he won the Tour de France. What was found was new information surrounding a federal grand jury that is now investigating whether Armstrong led a systematic doping program when he was captain of the U.S. team."
Tags: Lance Armstrong; performance enhancing drugs; Tour de France; broadcast
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Missing from the Bench
WVUE tracked a local judge who was living hundreds of miles from her judicial bench. The series helped prompt a Federal Grand Jury investigation.
Tags: judge; judicial system; court; justice; elected official;
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"Deaths at the State Hospital"
This ongoing investigation reveals major misconduct by the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo, the largest public psychiatric hospital in the state. The investigative team exposed and detailed the deaths of four patients that resulted from the "mistakes, lack of training, incompetence and possible criminal neglect" carried out by hospital employees. The series also reveals the attempt of state human services officials to cover up the mistakes.
Tags: mental health; patients; grand jury; DA; Pueblo; Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment; database; Pueblo State Hospital; Nexis-Lexis; 441.com; CoCourts.com; Colorado Bureau of Investigation
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Justice Unserved: The Scott Saloman Investigation
"Scott Salomon was a criminal lawyer who sought out high-profile clients and loved media attention. But I found more than 70 clients across the country who felt he took large, upfront retainers and then did little or nothing for them. Salomon caused many of them to face ruinous results - from loss of child visitations to loss of homes. Salomon would even try to leverage their dire circumstances to get even more money out of his clients.
Tags: criminal law; Salomon; fraud; Florida; indictments; federal grand jury;
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Unprotected: An Investigation o Sacramento County's Child Protective Services
A dozen years after the 1996 torture-death of one boy triggered major reforms within Sacramento County's Child Protective Services, -- and resulted in a quadrupling of the agency's budget and doubling of its staff -- many of the same problems persist in 2008. The Sacramento Bee found that, despite the massive increase in resources, numerous children continue to be injured or killed who had prior involvement with Sacramento's CPS. Among the problems detailed by The Bee: inadequate supervision and training, sloppy investigations, poor evaluation of children's risk, lack of accountability for serious mistakes. In its follow-up stories, which prompted a grand jury investigation, The Bee used a new state law related to child deaths to push CPS to release case files and found it had illegally altered the records of one boy who died in their care.
Tags: child protective services; county government; torture; child welfare; government agency; government accountablity; child services
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Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids scandal that Rocked Professional Sports
San Francisco Chronicle reporters broke the story that some elite athletes used drugs to "run faster, hit harder, and cash in on the fame that comes only to those at the very top of their games." Fainaru-Wada and Williams used"Federal Grand Jury transcripts and federal investigative reports... court records and state health department records," among other documents. (332 pages)
Tags: steroids; drugs; BALCO; Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative; San Francisco Chronicle; Victor Conte; Major League Baseball; football; track and field; California Public Records Act; Federal Grand Jury; sports agents; trainers; sports doping; Olympics; Justice Department; IRS; U.S. Anti-Doping Agency; USADA
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Corruption in Chicago's City Hall
In 1997, the Sun-Times investigated corruption in Chicago's City Hall. Politicians Patrick Huels and Edward Burke are now under investigation by county and federal grand juries for possible ethics violations.
Tags: crime; politics; scandal; corruption; aldermen; city hall
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Corporate money in Texas elections
This series of stories exposes how Republican leaders and business interests in Texas used secret corporate donations to help finance the campaigns of Republicans who ultimately assumed control of the state Legislature. A state law prohibits corporate money from being spent on campaign activity. Following the newspaper's initial investigation, three associates of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom Delay of Texas and eight corporations were indicted by a grand jury.
Tags: campaign finance laws; Texans for a Republican Majority; corporate influence; computer-assisted reporting
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Honolulu Liquor Commission
KITV-TV revealed the "Honolulu Liquor Commission spent $580,000 on investigations and lawsuits about corruption, workplace violence and sexual harassment" over the most recent three-year period -- 20 percent of its annual budget. The commission paid thousands for lawyers to protect employees accused of misconduct. Also, "at the same time, the commission failed to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines from bars and nightclubs, and does not have investigators on duty seven nights a week." A former whistleblower who testified before a grand jury about the situation was threatened and subsequently forced to leave Hawaii; another employee revealed that workers had been "openly threatened with harm or even death, if they talk to the media or the feds or any other investigation."
Tags: liquor; government; corruption; misconduct; harassment; agencies; alcohol; bars; nightclubs; club; drinking; bribe; payoff